Welcome to POV.
I'm Pete Schwaba, host of
Wisconsin Public Television's Director's Cut.
In tonight's film we meet an incredible twenty-three-year-old
Iraqi woman and human rights activist
who survived the 2014 genocide
of the Yazidi people in Northern Iraq.
"On Her Shoulders" is a documentary that follows
the journey of Nadia Murad and her efforts to bring ISIS
before the International Criminal Court
for crimes against humanity.
For Nadia, her reasons are personal.
After much of her family was killed by ISIS,
Nadia was captured and enslaved.
It was her survival instincts that helped her escape
and that same resiliency that keeps her going
in her daily fight for justice.
Whether she is visiting refugee camps,
testifying in front of the U.N.
or sharing her traumatic experiences with the media,
Nadia does so in a steely, yet calm manner.
To do a story like this justice,
it takes a filmmaker with a delicate hand
and one who is in sync with her subject.
And director Alexandria Bombach
easily qualifies in both categories.
She has a Sundance Jury prize to her credit
and now two critically-acclaimed feature documentaries.
Not bad for someone who ran away from home at the age of 16
and less than ten years ago was waiting tables.
A nomadic spirit, Bombach says she is happiest
exploring the outback of Australia or swimming
in a secret women's swimming pool in Kabul.
A friend once described her as a filmmaker
like Indiana Jones is a professor.
"On Her Shoulders" starts now on Wisconsin Public Television,
your home for Independent Film.